Two random events caused me to fall down a rabbit hole of research, and I figured I might as well share it. Warning, it's not particularly a happy story, but if you don't already know it, it's a story you should know. Particularly if you live in Minnesota.
The two events are:
1. a friend, jokingly (I think), pronounced “Shakopee” as “sha-CO-pee” (with the accent on the CO), and it made me wonder if I’d been pronouncing it correctly or not, and,
2. I heard that a daguerreotype of the execution of Shakopee and Medicine Bottle was being sold, and it made me wonder who they were and why they were being executed. (you can find the link here: http://bit.ly/2qXlMqp)
So, here you go:
First, it is indeed pronounced the way I’ve been pronouncing it all these years, which is: Shock-a-pee. Easy.
In my quest, I encountered the various ways it’s been spelled:
Shak'pi, Shah-kpa-dan, Shakpay, and (apparently closest to the original Dakota) Xakpedan.
Second, who was Shakopee? Well, there were three.
Shakopee I (~1750-1827—sometimes records say 1837, but 1827 seems more consistent). He was married to White Buffalo Woman, and they had sextuplets. Holy shit, right? Apparently the odds of having natural sextuplets (ie: without the use of fertility drugs) is 1 in 4.7 billion. Buh-billion. I can’t seem to find anything indicating whether (or how many of) the children survived. The French called him “le demi douzon,” and he became known as “half dozen,” or, simply, “six.” Shakopee is the Dakota word for “six,” so the assumption is he was given the name Shakopee after his wife had sextuplets. Then, because he was the chief, the area in which he lived became known as the Shakopee Indian Village, or Shakopee’s Village, or, more simply, Shakopee.
Shakopee II (1794-1857). He was born Ojibwa, but was given to Shakopee as a way to form an alliance between the tribes. Shakopee adopted him as a son. Shakopee II is generally known as being a strong orator and great speaker. Originally, he fought against Americans in the War of 1812, but then he became dedicated to the United States.
Shakopee III (1811-1865). He was the first-born son of Shakopee II. Born Eatoka, he took on the name of Shakopee III in honor of his father. He was given the nickname “Little six,” I assume to differentiate between himself and his father. The accounts of him, mostly written by white settlers, state that unlike his father, Shakopee III was not a natural born leader. But, then again, Andrew Jackson and white settlers had wrecked havoc on the native people and their lands. He was accused of participating in the “Indian Massacre of 1861,” in which several (7 by some accounts, thirteen by others, seventeen by others) white settlers—mostly women and children—were killed by Native Americans. Shakopee III was also one of the leaders in the Dakota War of 1862, the end result was 303 Native Americans were condemned to die in December of the same year. The US was in the midst of the Civil War and Lincoln was concerned about how it would look to European allies if he ordered the execution of 303 people. So he asked for the list to be whittled down to the 39 most egregious. A list was generated. He exonerated one final one, and 38 Native Americans were hung. Depending on the account you read, they were either all males, or some females, or all males with one twelve-year-old girl. The remaining 265 were exonerated, but most died in camps or of starvation. Shakopee III and Medicine Bottle were not among those executed on that day, they fled to Canada, until they were eventually captured, drugged, and brought back to Fort Snelling, where they were hung November 11, 1865.
Because cadavers were hard to come by then, and people were still learning about the inner-workings of the human body, the corpses of the hanged Native Americans (Shakopee III and Medicine Bottle included) were distributed to doctors for dissection. One of the beneficiaries of this was William Worral Mayo. After dissecting the cadavers, Mayo had the skeleton preserved and it was used to teach his sons about the bones of the human body. Eventually, in 1990 I think, those bones (and others) were returned to the Native Americans for proper burial.
Additional information:
Little Six Casino is named after Shakopee III. It began as Little Six Bingo Palace in October 1982, turned into Little Six Casino two years later in October 1984 (or 1990, depending on the source), and it’s the sister casino to its big brother Mystic Lake Casino (which opened in May 1992). Together, they are one of the most successful Indian gaming operations in the United States.
Mdewakanton means “those who dwell at Spirit Lake” (which probably is what we now call Mille Lacs Lake, which is Minnesota’s second largest inland lake after Red Lake).
Shakopee (the town name at least) makes a cameo in the first Cars movie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFrxy2NCHcA
The city also has a cameo in the SNL skit "B-108 FM" (this one is my favorite, but Lindsay Lohan also appeared on a sketch 3/3/2012): https://www.hulu.com/watch/447644
If you have any corrections please let me know. I will happily update it and would love to have the information.
The two events are:
1. a friend, jokingly (I think), pronounced “Shakopee” as “sha-CO-pee” (with the accent on the CO), and it made me wonder if I’d been pronouncing it correctly or not, and,
2. I heard that a daguerreotype of the execution of Shakopee and Medicine Bottle was being sold, and it made me wonder who they were and why they were being executed. (you can find the link here: http://bit.ly/2qXlMqp)
So, here you go:
First, it is indeed pronounced the way I’ve been pronouncing it all these years, which is: Shock-a-pee. Easy.
In my quest, I encountered the various ways it’s been spelled:
Shak'pi, Shah-kpa-dan, Shakpay, and (apparently closest to the original Dakota) Xakpedan.
Second, who was Shakopee? Well, there were three.
Shakopee I (~1750-1827—sometimes records say 1837, but 1827 seems more consistent). He was married to White Buffalo Woman, and they had sextuplets. Holy shit, right? Apparently the odds of having natural sextuplets (ie: without the use of fertility drugs) is 1 in 4.7 billion. Buh-billion. I can’t seem to find anything indicating whether (or how many of) the children survived. The French called him “le demi douzon,” and he became known as “half dozen,” or, simply, “six.” Shakopee is the Dakota word for “six,” so the assumption is he was given the name Shakopee after his wife had sextuplets. Then, because he was the chief, the area in which he lived became known as the Shakopee Indian Village, or Shakopee’s Village, or, more simply, Shakopee.
Shakopee II (1794-1857). He was born Ojibwa, but was given to Shakopee as a way to form an alliance between the tribes. Shakopee adopted him as a son. Shakopee II is generally known as being a strong orator and great speaker. Originally, he fought against Americans in the War of 1812, but then he became dedicated to the United States.
Shakopee III (1811-1865). He was the first-born son of Shakopee II. Born Eatoka, he took on the name of Shakopee III in honor of his father. He was given the nickname “Little six,” I assume to differentiate between himself and his father. The accounts of him, mostly written by white settlers, state that unlike his father, Shakopee III was not a natural born leader. But, then again, Andrew Jackson and white settlers had wrecked havoc on the native people and their lands. He was accused of participating in the “Indian Massacre of 1861,” in which several (7 by some accounts, thirteen by others, seventeen by others) white settlers—mostly women and children—were killed by Native Americans. Shakopee III was also one of the leaders in the Dakota War of 1862, the end result was 303 Native Americans were condemned to die in December of the same year. The US was in the midst of the Civil War and Lincoln was concerned about how it would look to European allies if he ordered the execution of 303 people. So he asked for the list to be whittled down to the 39 most egregious. A list was generated. He exonerated one final one, and 38 Native Americans were hung. Depending on the account you read, they were either all males, or some females, or all males with one twelve-year-old girl. The remaining 265 were exonerated, but most died in camps or of starvation. Shakopee III and Medicine Bottle were not among those executed on that day, they fled to Canada, until they were eventually captured, drugged, and brought back to Fort Snelling, where they were hung November 11, 1865.
Because cadavers were hard to come by then, and people were still learning about the inner-workings of the human body, the corpses of the hanged Native Americans (Shakopee III and Medicine Bottle included) were distributed to doctors for dissection. One of the beneficiaries of this was William Worral Mayo. After dissecting the cadavers, Mayo had the skeleton preserved and it was used to teach his sons about the bones of the human body. Eventually, in 1990 I think, those bones (and others) were returned to the Native Americans for proper burial.
Additional information:
Little Six Casino is named after Shakopee III. It began as Little Six Bingo Palace in October 1982, turned into Little Six Casino two years later in October 1984 (or 1990, depending on the source), and it’s the sister casino to its big brother Mystic Lake Casino (which opened in May 1992). Together, they are one of the most successful Indian gaming operations in the United States.
Mdewakanton means “those who dwell at Spirit Lake” (which probably is what we now call Mille Lacs Lake, which is Minnesota’s second largest inland lake after Red Lake).
Shakopee (the town name at least) makes a cameo in the first Cars movie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFrxy2NCHcA
The city also has a cameo in the SNL skit "B-108 FM" (this one is my favorite, but Lindsay Lohan also appeared on a sketch 3/3/2012): https://www.hulu.com/watch/447644
If you have any corrections please let me know. I will happily update it and would love to have the information.
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